Redblaze's Regret {COMPLETE}

Chapter 16

Redblaze was taken aback for a moment. He stared at Icetail, confused, but the ShadowClan warrior looked as sure as ever. Redblaze flicked his ears. "What do you mean, we're leaving?" he managed.

Icetail rolled her eyes, making a small leap into the air like an excited kit who couldn't wait to sneak out of camp for the first time. "I mean we're leaving!" she repeated. "We're leaving the forest!"

Now Redblaze was even more confused, and he shook his head like it was full of bees. Was Icetail insane? "Why in StarClan's name would we leave the forest?" he mewed. "Why would we leave our Clans? And is this really what you wanted to meet me for?"

Icetail faltered, the shine in her eyes dimming a little. "Well, yeah," she meowed. "We're going to find Minnowpaw. I don't believe for a moment that she's dead. Now are you coming or not?"

Minnowpaw's name hit Redblaze like the blow of a powerful warrior and he took a step backwards. "What?" he exclaimed, louder than he meant. The thought of her made a growl rise in his throat. "Have you got bees for brains?" he growled. "Why would we go looking for her?" he spat the last word.

Icetail's eyes widened, and a shadow drew across her face. "Be-because she's our friend," she stammered, speaking slowly. "You're telling me you don't want to find her?"

Redblaze scoffed. "Not even if she was alive."

Whiskers drooping, Icetail whispered, "So she really is dead?"

Redblaze didn't meet Icetail's gaze as he answered, "To RiverClan she is."

He heard a gasp from Icetail and looked back at her. Countless emotions showed on her face, rage and sorrow among them. "You don't even know! So I was right," she said flatly. "I knew something was up, the way your leader glossed over the news at that Gathering." Her tail was beginning to fluff up, and Redblaze felt his fur prickle defensively. "Something happened, didn't it?" Her voice had risen to a shout. "My patrol found her in ShadowClan territory! I let her escape, and she hightailed it to Highstones! What is RiverClan trying to cover up?"

"It's none of your business!" Redblaze hissed, raking his claws along the dirt. "It's my Clan's and my Clan's alone!"

"So you can just go on not knowing what happened to your friend?" Icetail challenged.

"She's not my friend!" Redblaze retaliated, jumping up. "She killed my mentor!" He realized a moment too late that his emotions had gotten the better of him; he hadn't meant to let that slip, but now it was out there.

Icetail was silent for a couple moments, eyes wide in shock. "No," she said at last. "Minnowpaw would never. She's one of the most gentle cats I've ever met. Whatever really happened, you're wrong!"

"You don't know what happened!" Redblaze fired back, hackles raised.

"Then tell me!" Icetail screeched at him, also rising to a fighting stance. For a moment Redblaze thought she was going to rake her claws across his face; there was pure, unbridled rage in her icy blue eyes.

"Fine!" he spat, anger bubbling like fire in his blood. Once more he saw the dead bodies of his Clanmates before him. "You want to know what happened? Minnowpaw killed three of her own Clanmates, including our deputy, a kit, and Flamepelt, my mentor!"

All at once the hollow fell silent, Icetail's eyes so wide with horror that Redblaze thought they might pop out of her head, but she said nothing. Redblaze growled again. "She lived as a cursed cat, and if she's not dead already, she'll die that way too." He looked away, towards Highstones. It hadn't occurred to him until now that Minnowpaw may have actually made it there. Icetail had said she was caught by a patrol, but Icetail let her go.

Of course she would, he thought bitterly. How much farther had she made it, he wondered? To Mothermouth? To the Moonstone? Had she spoken with StarClan as Silverheart claimed they'd called her to do?

Redblaze shook his head. He didn't care.

"Cursed?" came a whisper from Icetail, and Redblaze reluctantly turned his gaze back to her. "What do you mean by that?"

Redblaze sighed heavily. He just wanted to go home now; half the night had been wasted when he was already so tired, and he wanted to curl up in his nest of reeds and ferns and sleep for a moon. But one more look at the ShadowClan warrior and he knew; she wouldn't let him leave without knowing.

"Minnowpaw fell into the river one day and drowned," he began, and Icetail gasped. Shaking his head, he went on. "Tawnyclaw pulled her out but she was already gone. He brought her body back to camp so we could sit vigil, and just as we started she woke up."

"Woke up?" Icetail echoed. "Did StarClan save her?"

"Whatever they did, they didn't do it right," Redblaze said impatiently, wishing Icetail would stop interrupting him. She opened her mouth but he flicked his tail to silence her. "Nightwhisper didn't know what happened, and Silverheart looked for answers but couldn't find them. Minnowpaw woke up, spent over a moon recovering, and went back to training, but Nightwhisper said she was cursed. No one believed him until we battled ThunderClan for Sunningrocks." A voice in Redblaze's head was begging him to stop talking, but he went on. "I wasn't there, but every cat who was saw Minnowpaw knock Shadebelly down onto the rocks, and he died. Not long after that, she gave Breezekit a piece of poisoned prey; he didn't stand a chance. And when a rogue fox attacked us in our own camp, she fought it and threw it off of her, straight towards Flamepelt. It-" his voice caught in his throat. "It ripped him to shreds." His grief was a loud, wailing cry inside him, a pain that still hadn't eased.

"Then what?" Icetail prompted, her voice barely a whisper.

"Then we tried to drive her out of the camp," Redblaze admitted, remembering the wave of cats, himself included, pushing Minnowpaw slowly out of RiverClan's camp. "Then Silverheart had a vision that Minnowpaw was supposed to go to the Moonstone to speak with StarClan, and Ashstar let her go. She didn't come back."

An eternity passed before Icetail spoke again. "You blame her?" Her voice was thick and choked.

Redblaze scoffed again. "Of course I do," he meowed. "I watched my mentor die before my eyes. She was cursed!"

Icetail's tail swished angrily behind her. "You can't blame her for something she had no control over!"

"Now you sound like Sorrelstream."

"Well, maybe one cat in your Clan has some sense!" Icetail's ears flattened. "Whatever was going on, it wasn't her fault. That should make you want to find her even more! To set things right!"

"Nothing will be right unless Flamepelt comes back!" Redblaze shouted, silently cursing himself for being so openly emotional with an enemy warrior.

"Just Flamepelt?" Icetail challenged. "Not the other two? Are you speaking out of loyalty to your Clan or just from your own emotions?"

Unable to answer her question, Redblaze jumped up and shoved past her. "I'm going home," he spat. "Thanks for wasting my time."

"So that's it?" Icetail called after him, and he paused. "Even when you know StarClan had the answers, you don't want to help fix it?"

"If StarClan really had the answers, Minnowpaw would have come back," he replied flatly. "But she didn't. Either she's dead or she ran away like a coward. If you ask me, that's the same thing."

The moon had long passed the highest point of the sky, following its curve back down towards morning. The air was still and cool. Icetail's voice sounded cold behind Redblaze as she at last said, "I hope StarClan can forgive you."

Without responding or allowing himself time to think about her words, Redblaze marched forward and didn't look back, Icetail's gaze burning into him as he headed towards home.